Smile Sister

So, remember the first day that we went hiking, and hadn't bought our new camera yet? Well, Captain America was able to get a few pics on his cell phone, and he emailed them to me yesterday. You now where he was, right? Driving. And texting, apparently. Sweetheart, pay attention to the driving! If you're reading this, put your phone away, and drive - LOL!

Anyway, here we are up at the Franklin Mountains.

See that big stick that Jacob is holding in the pic above? Well, it came off of that plant that Captain Americas near in the pic below. We'd find them all long the way, and the kids thought they made perfect walking sticks.

Here's Captain America, obviously off of the trail. He wanted us to take a picture up there. No, I said - hehehe. It's too dangerous for little kids. So, he climbed up and I took a pic of him :)

Isn't it a pretty view!

I was just FACINATED by the cactus. I'd never seen them in the wild before. I guess Captain America was taking pictures of me enjoying them - LOL

Here's 3 of our fearless hikers :) Look how BLUE that sky is for February!

Oh yeah, here's that pic of Jimmy and I after we climbed back up the hill. See how he's sitting on my purse. It was KIND of like a baby backpack, in the loosest sense of the term - LOL!


We didn't get as many pics of the hike we did the other day. Again, no real camera. I had it this time, only it was at home. I also forgot my purse, so putting it in there woudln't have helped. Sigh. I think I need a personal assistant. Yeah, that's what I need. Then I won't NEED to remember stuff. They'll do it for me - LOL!

Here's Captain America, pushing the stroller up the BIG hill. It may not look steep, but believe me, it was :) This road only goes to the park at the top of the mountain, so it's not that traveled, and there were a TON of walker/runners on it. Pretty safe, if you're watching out.

And us at the top, getting water and snacks.

AND, my sweetheart and my 3 year old left yesterday on their trip back to Ohio to get the rest of our junk. I was SO excited to get pics throught the day of the journey. It was pretty fun :)

Jimmy and Buzz (no idea where this is - hehehe)

This message was entitled 'Look Ma, No Hands". Nice, sweetheart! KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL! hehehe! (that was hysterical laughter, could you tell - LOL!)

And, some scenery

Watching a movie on the road. I packed him Scoobie Doo and the Vampire, Care Bears Nutcracker, The Bee Movie, and, um, one more. These are his MOST favorites. Well, Cars is the REALLY most favorite, but it's lost. And Shrek 3, but it's broken - alas!

I'm guessing they stopped at the Golden Arches for lunch - hehehe

In New Mexico? Must be :)

And I'm guessing he got a new CAR Lightning McQueen. I didn't send him on the trip with that one - LOL! Thanks, Sweetie, for taking good care of my little boy. He's gonna remember this fun trip with his Daddy for sure!

I'm sure Jimmy was loving being on Route 66, just like in Cars!

LOVE this pic :)

So, those were my picture updates for yesterday. Hopefully I'll get some more today :) And what did I do with my 7 1/2 hours of freedom? Well, I laid in bed after the kids went to school and watched Monday night's episode of "The Bachelor". Can't believe he sent home Jill. I thought he really liked her. But, I really liked all 3 girls, so I'll be happy with whoever he pics :) It was nice to now that I could watch my show, and that no one was TRASHING my house in the mean time - LOL!

I did do some productive stuff today. I cleaned my bedroom. There were piles of papers, and clothes, and unpacked stuff all over it, and now's it's clean - it makes me happy :) I did a TON of laundry, and put it away too. The upstairs hall is clean and clear, as is Jimmy and Joes room. I even organized downstairs a little bit. AND, I got some designing time in too. Woohoo!!!

I did call today to set up Dr. appointments for us. Jacob has an appointment on Friday, and Tom and Eme has immunizations, which are a walk-in appointment, so that's easy. I have an appointment in March. Get this. I call into the appointment center, and get a guy on the phone. I tell him that it's been 3 1/2 years since I've been to the Dr. and need an appointment. He says, ok, I"ll set you up for a physical. I get to thinking, thhat's not really what I need. I tell him, shouldn't I have a "well-woman" exam?

Do you want a pap smear? he asks. What? You don't ask a girl that - LOL! No on WANTS a pap smear. I don't sit at him, thinking, Hmmmm, you now what? I really WANT a pap smear. He should have asked "Do you want me to schedule you a pap smear". I guess the really embarassing part was that I said yes, I want a pap smear, then said "Well, I don't really WANT a pap smear, you know, no one wants on of those'. Oops, I created an akward situation for myself - LOl! But, it's all scheduled. Woohoo for me :)

This WordArt request is from my new digifriend, Andrea. I just LOVE meeting new people out there in cyberspace. I know Mom, you can't go out to lunch with a cyberfriend. but I still like my cyberfriends. I'll find some IRL (in real life) friends soon. I promise. After I get my house organized - LOL!

Isn't this saying hilarious! My mom has it on a little plaque hanging in her library. TOO funny. Andrea had it on a pillow (or was it her mom that had it on a pillow - can't remember now - hehehe). I also made one for brother, and one for family. So, head on over to Scraporchard, and pick up this weeks WordArt Wednesday! Click HERE to go to the Orchard, and remember, you have to be logged into the Gallery in order to download the ZIP file :)

Sweet Sorrow

How was your President's day yesterday? Did you do something fun? Did you get the day off work? We spent the morning at home. Captain America took the truck in to get it's brakes looked at, and they needed fixed/replaced. Something like that. I didn't even ask how much that set us back - sigh. But, he was gone for like 4 hours doing that. Slow car place - geesh! The kids and I did a little bit of cleaning (I FINALLY found my silverware drawer in the boxes in the garage!!!) and organizing, then played for a while.

When he finally got back, we headed out on our canyon hike. It was GORGEOUS. And guess what? I FORGOT my camera. Can you believe it! I almost started crying - hehehe. But , I pulled myself together, and we still had a TON of fun. It was about a 2 mile walk (I think), and was good for the kids. They're getting a bit soft, and need more exercise. It was pretty steep on the way up, but a piece of cake on the way down - hehehe.

The BESTEST part was signing Army Cadences all the way down the mountain. Who knew my boys could sing so loud? ha! Our favorite one was "Got Me Lookin' Like Gomer Pile". It's SO catchy. Even Jimmy (3) was singing along - hehehe.

As we were headed back home (it was already dark), we noticed that the on-ramp from the highway was blocked, and there were police everywhere. As we drove past our exit, and headed towards the next, we saw a car down below that was totaled, and flipped on it's top. I don't know what happened, but it didn't look good. Dang! I hate car wrecks.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog on Friday!! You really made my day :) What nice comments, even if they were solicited - LMBO! I'm shameless, aren't I :) I know I can always count on you all for a pick-me-up! hehehe.

So, I said that I'd post the winners on Valentines day, but clearly, today is not Valentine's Day. But we did buy some clearance Valentine's stuff last night, if that counts. No? OK, sorry. I was a bit of a slacker. But, I've picked the winners, and here they are. Did you notice I said winners??? You know me, I can't do anything small. I decided to give away 1 $10.00 coupon, 2 $5.00 coupons, and 4 $2.50 coupons. There were 51 comments, so your odd of winning were 13%. Not too bad, eh? Much better than the lottery, and this one was free. Sure, it's not a million bucks, but it IS my WordArt pack. Comparable, right? ROFLMBO!!!

So, the winners are:

$2.50 coupons:
Bobbi-Lyn (email me, girl!)
Prinzess (I left you a comment on your blog)
SAHM (email me, k?)
Amy Lightfoot (I left you a comment on your blog, too)

$5.00 coupons:
Simply Sarah (it's in your inbox!)
Ginnieg (email me so I can get you your coupon)

$10.00 coupon:
breeoxd (I left you a comment on your blog :)

Congrats to everyone who won :) Hopefully you'll go get your prize, and make some FABULOUS layouts with them, then upload them to the Scraporchard gallery, so we ALL can see your works of art! Woohoo!

So, because my hubby is leaving today on his final (it had BETTER be the final one - hehehe) trip to Ohio to get the remaining crap...er...stuff from our storage shed (friends' garage - LOL!), this quote came to mind. Captain America and I both thought, hmmmm, "sweet" sorrow? What's that about. But, it's by Shakespeare, and Juliet says it to Romeo as they bid goonight to each other. It's sorrow because they are not going see each other that night, but sweet, because they are both excited for the next time they will see each other.

So, see, it's fitting! Captain America is leaving today, and I won't see him till next Tuesday-ish. But I'll be SO glad to see him when he gets back home. Part is such sweet sorry. Exactly - hehehe. I'm good, eh? LOL! Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Click HERE to go to my mediafire account to download the PNG file.

FONTS:
Sweet - AL Libretto
Sorrow - 2peas old type

Mud Puddle

I had a nice Sunday yesterday, how about you? Church was good, my lesson went GREAT, kids were mostly well behaved. I was on day 3 of my diet (no cheats in 3 days - woohoo!) and was down a few lbs. That always puts one in a good mood - LOL!

After church, we just sat around as a family and watched movies. It was GREAT! We watched Lord of the Rings, Return of the King first. I didn't realize that Jimmy (3) and Joe (5) didn't really now the story. I guess we watched it a lot when they were babies. Shame on us - hehehe. Those kids need education on Tolkien - LOL!



So, when I went to put the little kids to bed at 8pm (they got to stay up an hour later because of no school on Monday), I found a HUGE mess in their rooms. Sigh. They'd found the styrofoam from my new printers box, and crushed it all over the bedroom. Then, they took all the little storage boxes from their new shelves, and dumped them all over the room. And a giant box of misc. toys as well. And, for good measure, they took all of their pants from their box (yeah, we don't use dressers, we just use storage boxes - LMBO!) and strewn them all around the room. Nice, eh?
Apparently ABOVE is why they needed all of their pants out. They needed to stuff their clothes to make themselves fat. Nice. I woudln't have thought of that one. I find that chocolate and cheesecake are MUCH more effective and fun :)

SO, we sat down and cleaned it all up. Again. We got a trash bag for all the styrofoam, and I put all the little toy boxes out on the floor, and started each one with a "sample" toy so they knew how to sort them. They actually did a pretty good job of cleaning, with me sitting in there and directing. It only took about 15 minutes to get it spotless again. I have a feeling it's gonna be a nightly routine. Oh well. I guess, at least, they're playing with their toys.

After I put the little ones down, I was headed back to my room, and noticed a mess in the bathroom. Someone.....er.....Joe and Jim.... had gotten into a bottle of Shampoo/Conditioner, and emptied the bottle ALL OVER THE BATHROOM. Luckily, we have tile in there. Still, do you know how much mess that makes? I think, once they squirted it out, they rubbed it in with a towel, or something. And, being the desert, it's really dry here, so of course, it dried. I didn't know what it was a first.

I tried mopping, but the mop instantly got all soapy. I tried wash rags, but that was the same problem. I finally gave up, and decided it was a job for another day :) Not a Sunday project - LOL! That's what I told myself, anyway :) I guess there's no more family movie time on Sunday. Too much "unsupervised" time for the 3 and 5 year old. I'll be so happy when they're 7 and 9. But then, I'll have a 15 year old, and I'm SURE they come with their own set of problems. But girls, are they this messy? Please tell me no :)

OK girls! I have a TREAT for you today :) Well, I think it's a treat - LMBO! Nothing like tooting my own horn :) The other day, I went back and looked at some of my first WordArts, and I must say, I cringed. Really? I made those! Sigh. Well, at least I'm getting better - hehehe. So, here's my first ever WordArt that I offered, way back in February of 2008. I LOVED the quote, and was quite proud of it at the time.

Not bad, for my first one. So, I wanted to see what difference a year would make with my WordArt-ing skills (ha! I'm making up all sorts of new words - LOL!) So, what do you think? Like it better? I sure do :)

And, if you like this one, you're gonna LOVE my new products for Friday. 5 WordArt packs (or more, if I get some designing in this week, which I should), all with this grungy type feel. I just LOVE trying new things :)

So, click on the image ABOVE to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Click HERE to go to my mediafire account to download the PNG file.

FONTS:
Mud, Puddles - AL Scratched
Splatters - WC Rhesus B Bta (OT1)
All rest - AFT Font nonmetric BT

Family Founded Upon Jesus Christ

How was your Valentine's day??? Was it good? Did you have fun??? I spent the morning working on my Sunday lesson (sharing time), and once I got it all planned, and typed up, and such, I went to install my printer, only to realize that it was broke. Sigh. So guess what I got for Valentines Day - LMBO!

But, before we went to .... yep, you guess it, Wal-mart, we went on a family outing. We drove up to the Franklin Mountains State Park and went on a little hike. We hiked down a little trail and then back up again. It didn't look like that far in distance, but it was a smidge bit steep, and the little kids needed to go slow. It was fun looking at all the desert vegetation. I'd never been that close to a wild cactus before - I was so intrigued by it - hehehe. Remember, it doesn't take much to impress me - hehehe.

Jimmy needed carried back up the trail when we left, and boy was it a long way up - hehehe. I started off giving him a piggy back, then I decided that if I let him sit on my purse/bag, kinda like a sling. It made it where I didn't have to "carry" him with my arms. It was a long climb, though. Now I know why people overweight don't hike. Carrying 40 extra lbs up that hill just about did me under - hehehe.

After the hike, we went to Wal-Mart for dinner. What a romantic Valentines Dinner, eh? Wal-mart with 5 kids. Ha! But I lOVED every minute of it. We bought one of their giant sub sandwhiches, 2 chicken cesear salads, and went to sit in the In-store McDonalds. Then, we got drinks, fries, and sundaes from McDonalds (well, not me, cause I'm ROCKIN' my diet - ha! Just chicken salad for me).

We got the new printer (printer/scanner/fax by cannon for $39.99) and I broke down, and got a different camera. I SO hated the old new one. It took crappy pictures, was big and bulky, and the battery didn't hold a charge for very long. AND, sometimes it would malfunction to the point that I'd have to take out the batteries and start over again. Nice, eh? BUT, I lost the receipt, and Wal-Mart wouldn't take it back without one. Something about if you have an item over $100 ish you need a receipt for a return. Sigh. Expensive lesson. I'll be more careful with receipts in the future.

But, I hope that this new one works out for me. It's a Panasonic DMC-LS80. 8.1 MP with a 3x zoom. Not a great zoom, but the pictures seem to be pretty good. Only time will tell :) It's tiny, though. Now I can fit it in my purse/pocket when I go out, so hopefully I get some more pictures :)

Oh yeah, on Friday, I went to register with my Tricare (army) health insurance at the hospital. Boy, was that a process. First off, when you go there, you have to show your military ID's to get into the parking lot. The guy at the gate told us that the Tricare place was over that the VA hospital (connected with the main hospital). We parked, and I went in. Captain America sat in the car with a sleeping Jimmy.

The little old man at the front desk said that I was in the wrong place, that the Tricare office was in the main hospital. He showed me a LONG hallway to walk down, and said "Just go through those doors that say "Authorized personal only", follow the corridor, and it'll take you to the 3rd floor of the main hospital". Great. That's NOT what I wanted to do, but I followed his directions. I don't know why it bothers me so much to be in "off limits" areas. Something about being an obsessive rule follower, maybe - hehehe.

So, as I walked, I was trying to memorize the way back, because I knew I'd have to come back that way to find Captain America. So I got to the 3rd floor, and asked more directions. Down to the first floor, and follow the signs to Tricare. The ladies in that office were pretty nice. I filled out about 4 pages of paperwork (I have a TON of kids, remember - hehehe), and then went back into another office where the lady filled out some more paperwork to fax into the main headquarters.

She gave me a paper with the number for the appointment phone line, and I thought I was all good to go. Nope, she said. I was now registered with Tricare, but now I needed to register with the Army Hospital and Ft. Bliss. That was back up on the 3rd floor. Nice. At least it was near my "shortcut" though the ER.

So I went to another office, and took a number. They got me in pretty quick. There was a TON of info to enter into the computers. It took about 30 minutes or so. It may not sound like a long time, but it was a long time to sit and give someone info to enter into a computer. But, when she was done, I was in the system, complete with blue cards. Not sure what they were for, but I have blue cards for each person - hehehe.

And, I'm proud to say that I manuvered that hospital like a pro. I didn't get lost once. I have NO idea how I managed to get back to my truck, but I sure did. Surely someone up above was steering my feet in the right direction - LOL!

As we were leaving for home, I tried calling the appointment line to set up appointments for us all, only to learn that it closed at 3:45. It was 4pm. It woudln't be opened again until Tuesday. Nice. I guess we'll wait till then to get an appointment. But, at least we're in the system now. That's the hard part.

So I debated about giving this one away today as a freebee. I, personally, LOVE it! I used it in my Sunday lesson today on a hand out. (It's the Primary scripture that goes with the theme for 2009 - My Eternal Family) But, I know that some of you out there don't "do" church, but a lot of you do. So, I decided to give it out, as a nice WordArt for your "faithbooking". That's what it's called, right? See, my lack of Scrapbook experience is showing through. You'd think I'd have picked up on a little bit more over the past year - LMBO!

Anyway, here it is :) I hope you like it and can use it - I thought it would be GREAT on pictures of the fam going to/coming from church on Sunday. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Family - AL Professor
Founded, Upon, Christ - An Unfortunate Event Dewarped
Jesus - AL Aunt Marie

Love is in the Air 5

Happy Valentines Day!!! I hope that you all have a GRAND day today :) Me? What do I have planned for today? Um, well, I'd like to sleep in - hehehehe. We'll see how far that goes - LOL! The little ones tend to get up at the same time reguardless of when they were put to bed. Ha!

I know that we wanted to drive up to the mountains and go see the Franklin Mountains State Park, and that we wanted to get Jacob's glasses fixed at Wal-Mart. Captain America and I might go see a movie after the little kids go to bed. Other than that, just a fun Saturday at home. Since Captain America and I are both trying to lose some unwanted holiday pounds, we're for-going on the Chocolate/sweets, so that takes a lot of the "umpf" out of Valentines day - hehehe. See where my mind is - TOTALLY on the food - ha!

Oh yeah, our Valentines Dance last night was pretty fun. The kids really enjoyed it. They had GREAT decorations, games that the kids liked, and ice cream sundaes and cookies, that my kids LOVED! We stayed for about an hour, and then came back home. I did get a few pics, but my stupid camera wasn't taking clear pictures. You know, I think I should just go out and buy a cheap one from Wal-mart. At least that way it would fit in my purse, and I'd have it when I needed it. And those take decent pictures. To get a camera that takes FABULOUS pictures, you need to spend more than $150. That's just the cold, hard facts I'm afraid :)

The kids had fun at their Valentines Day parties yesterday. They came home with a TON of Valentines, and lots of chocolate and candy. They were so sweet, and tried to share with me, but I was good, and resisited. Did I tell you that I'm up 14 lbs from my 140lbs where I was before Thanksgiving? Crud! I now have 1 pair of pants that fit. So, I'm back on my diet. I did yesterday PERFECT. One day down, at least 30 more to go :) I've done it once before, I know I ca do it again.

You know, I can tell that I'm REALLY tired while writing this post (pre-published last night), because it's SO random and stream of thought - ha! I think it's about time I tie it up, and head to bed. SO sleepy :) Need sleep - hehehehe.

OK all, here's the last of the "Love is in the Air" WordArts :) I hope you've enjoyed them :) Be sure to post some layouts in my Scraporchard gallery, under Elegant WordArt by Bethany, so I can see your lovely creations :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

Love is in the Air 4

Friday the 13th, eh? Aren't bad things supposed to happen today? Nah! (knock on wood) I'm not superstitious!

I spent yesterday morning cleaning Jimmy (3) and Joe (5)'s room. There were a TON of clothes that needed put away, and I found some of the toys from storage in Ohio, and put them away in their bedroom. I cleaned for about and hour and a half, and it loos pretty nice :) Of course, when I went to check on them right before bed, they'd pulled out ALL of the toys, and strewn them around the room - nice - nothing like seeing all your hard work undone in one foul swoop - sigh. Jimmy and I will clean it up today, I guess :)

I also worked on switching my bank account from National City to USAA. NOT a fun process. I pay all my bills on billpay, so I needed to add "new payees" for the new bank. Talk about time consuming. But, it's done. Now, I just need to get our paychecks auto deposited into the new bank. It's in the works, but will take a while to take effect.

I also called the health insurance people today. Tricare West covers El Paso. Anything East of here is a different one, so I lucked out. Woohoo! I need to print off a form (um, no printer hooked up yet) and take it to Tricare (I think there's one at the medical place) and have them fax it to Tricare headquarters, so we can get into the system here, and get to the doctor. The kids haven't been in at least 6 months. Eme and Tom need another vaccination for school, Jacob has something wrong with his heel (he tweaked it last year, and it's still hurting him) and a possible undescended testicle, Tom has warts on his feet (nasty, I know), and I haven't been to the doctor since my 6 week check up after I had Jimmy (turning 4 this year). I think I'm due for a visit :)

You know, I sometimes feel like I'm stumbling around in "Army World" here. Those of you Army wives out there, is this how it is??? No idea what you're doing until you actually do it? Someone should write a book about "What to expect when your hubby joins the army". I'd buy it :) Well, I wouldn't now, but I SO would have back when he first joined.

I did a bit of cleaning in the kitchen and living room today, just so we could find the floor again - hehehe. I'll be happy when everything is unpacked and put away. One box at a time, right? One box at a time :)

We're going to a Valentines Day Party at church tonight. It's a 50's dance, apparently. I'm excited - it should be fun :) And the kids are really excited about passing out their Valentines. Last night, we cut out the Valentines (3 to a sheet - 4x6 photos) and they wrote their friends' names on the back. Emeline took it one step further, and made hand drawn cards for EACH of the 18 kids in her class. Dang, girl!

So I wanted to show you all my new stuff for this week. It's kinda fun :) Hope y'all like it! Click HERE to go to my store to pick up my FUN new stuff :)

These birth month ones were pretty fun to make :) If you buy the Birth Month pack (24 WordArts), you get both the boys and girls version for $6.00 (20% off the first week)

layout by minna :)

Or, just buy the Birth Months - Girls (12 WordArts - one for each month) for $4.00 (20% off first week)

Or just the boy with Birth Months - Boys (12 WordArts - one for each month) for $4.00 (20% off the first week)

And here are some fun WordArts, one pack for each decade - I bet you could have some REALLY fun layouts with these :)

Layout by minna :)

Again, click HERE to go to my store to get my new stuff :)

And, since it's almost Valentines day, and I'm feeling the love (LOL!), here's what I'm gonna do:

1. Leave me a comment on this post, and I'll pick ONE winner at random to get a $10.00 coupon to my store before I go to bed on Valentines Day.

2. Purchase WordArt from my store, and be entered into a drawing to win a $10.00 coupon from my store. Each WordArt Pack purchased gets your name entered into a drawing on Monday morning when I wake up (after the kids get to school). So what are you waiting for? Get shopping - LOL!

Here's another version of "Love is in the Air", in honor of Valentines Day tomorrow. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)

Love is in the Air 3

So, my mom has been bugging me to put up some more pictures of my house (especially the bathroom - LOL!), and apparently my Aunt wants to see some pics too. Geesh! Who would have thought my bathroom was such a hot topic for conversation - LMBO! So, here you go, girls - now you can stop bugging me :) Just kidding :) It is a mighty nice bathroom, I must add. It's off the master bedroom, there's a countertop with sink, and shower, then turn to the left, another room with the toliet and LARGE shelving closet, then again to the left, and there's a BIG walk in closet. I'm in heaven!

I'm also the proud owner of a TEXAS drivers license. Well, that's not quite correct. I'm actually the proud owner of a piece of paper saying that my Texas drivers license is on it's way in about 3 weeks. Who ever heard of that? I get to carry around an "IOU" drivers license for 3 weeks? How does one use that as ID? It's a good thing I've got my Military ID. Oh yeah, and when I was in the drivers license place, they had me raise my right hand and swear that all my info I was providing was correct. That's a first - LOL! Only in Texas, eh? I'd hate to see what happens to people who break that oath - LMBO!

AND, I got my mailbox key. Our subdivision has locked mailboxes, which just HAPPEN to be across the street from my house - lucked out there! I went to check out the mailbox, and make sure it worked. I wasn't expecting mail, since I'd just put in my change of address form that day, but guess what? The box was FULL! 1/2 of it was from the previous resident, but the other 1/2 was actually mine. A few bills, some jun mail, a "New House" card from my Aunt Toni (ThANK YOU!), Valentines from my Grandma Ida (THANKS!), a letter to Jacob (11) from his Sunday class back in Oregon, and a package from Brenda (a blog reader) with a cute little charm bracelet and a FANTABULOUS candle (cinnamon - yummmmmy!) as a house warming present. Wow! I was in HOG heaven. It's funny, but checking the mail and going through it has always been one of my favorite parts of the day - hehehe.

We got 2 new tires for the truck today. You know, it feels like we've spent a lot of money on the truck lately, but I guess if you break it down, it's only been about $1000 a year. That's cheaper than a suburban payment. What's that, like $600 a month? Our truck is paid off (thank goodness), so money on repairs (and upkeep) is all we pay each year. Anyway, tires. Apparently I, um, parked too close to the curb too many times, and wore it down to the point where it needed replaced. Oops. Ha! I just talked to Captain America, and he said that was just superficial, and just looked bad. It didn't really hurt the tires (besides appearance). What ruined them was the ball joints, which caused irregular wear on the tires, and hence, ruined tires. Yeah, I just typed what he told me - LMBO! Remember, I don't speak Automotive - ROFL!

Well, we learned today that what Captain America has been experiencing is not dust and mold allergies, but altitude sickness. Nice, eh? They say it should go away in about a month. So, my beds weren't bad, just old. :( As much as I LOVE my new bed, it would have been much cheaper to keep my old one. Who knew? Live and learn, I guess. At least we had the money at the time. And, secretly, I'm glad we got some new things. We're only ever got hand-me-downs. Getting something new every now and again is kinda fun :)

And, yet another take on "Love is in the Air". Do you all have FUN layouts you're making with them? Valentines Cards? Anything? LOL! Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
L - Digs My Hart
heart - KR Heartalicious
ve - Perpetua Titling MT
All rest - Rage Italic LET

Love is in the Air 2

Guess what? Remember how I was going on and on about how nice the weather is here? Was thta with you guys I was going on, or was that to my mom? Can't remember now. Anyway, as I was laying in my NEW INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL bed yesterday morning after the kids went to school, watching Monday night's episode of "The Bachelor", I heard the wind just whipping outside, and rain hitting the window. Could it be rain? In the desert?

Well, I went to the window to investigate, and IT WAS SNOW!!! Holy cow! Where did THAT come from? It didn't stick, but boy was it weird. And for me, a native Oregon girl (and from the coast to boot), to say that it was mighty windy, is a HUGE thing. At one point, I was afraid that the trailer would blow away. Good thing we blocked the wheels - LOL! Our giant pile of cardboard boxes is only 1/2 of what it was before the wind started, and our trash cans (the GIANT ones the city gives you) ended up across the street. Mercy :)

We found someone to buy our full sized mattress. $25 bucks. And to another army family. We're bringing it to them later today. They only have a car, so we thought we'd be nice and take it over.

I finished off the valentines day cards for the kids, and got them developed at Wal-Mart yesterday. They turned out pretty cool. Eme had princesses, Tom had Batman, Jacob had Batman, Joe had Star Wars, and Jim had Cars. Not too bad, personalized valentines cards for about 6 cents a piece. We bought some candy to send with them too. And teacher presents (valentines wrappered hersheys bars). I know, I'm a suck up, Chet (that's my friend Maren's hubby - LMBO!!!)

Captain America and I watched Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring last night :) It's one of my favorite-est movies of all time! But I must say, I'm not used to sharing the TV - I was a little miffed when he wouldn't let me watch American Idol - hehehehe. Sure, he DID sit down and turn it on first. And yeah, it's not like it's my favorite show or anything. I think it was that control thing. I'll have to work on that - hehehe. We did turn off LOTR and watch Fringe when it came on, though. I'm such a TV junkie. And it's SO funny to watch us watch TV. We both have out our laptops, typing and surfing away, all the while, 1/2 watching TV in the background. Now that's REAL pathetic - LMBO! Multi-tasking sounds better, though.

We have a lot of things to get done today. I hope we get most of it completed. Drivers licenses, new tires for the truck (well 1/2 of the tires), delivering the mattress, buying 2 more mattresses, Scouts at 7pm. Geesh! My life is full - LOL!

WordArt Wednesday again :) Hehehehe, funny how it keeps popping up on me :) I have to have it ready and submitted by Monday night, then posted by Tuesday night, and blogged for Wednesday morning. What a process - LOL! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, you need to be logged into the orchard to get your download :)

Love is In The Air 1

We got my truck fixed yesterday. Apparently, it had something wrong with the....um....balls? (LMBO!) Ball joints, maybe? I don't speak Automotive any better than I speak Army - LOL! I guess if it had broke while I was driving, my wheels would have fallen off , and we would had crashed and burned pretty hard. Nice. But, it's all fixed now.

We dropped the truck off at the mechanic on Post (isn't that cool? and army mechanic - LOL!) at 8:30 ish, and Jimmy and I went with Captain America to do his Army errands today. We got to meet the guys at his battilion office, to wait in line for an hour and a half at the ID card place, only to realize that we were gonna be late for his next meeting (but I did give my number to the nice family sitting next to us, and they seemed happy to have jumped up in line - hehehe), to eat lunch at the PX, and go to a few more errands with Captain America. It was pretty fun.

Here's a few pics from our time at the ID card place. It was going SO slow - we were there for 90 minutes, and it went from B214 to B216. I was B221. Holy cow! I'll have to go back one day when Captain America's in Ohio (he's taking Jimmy, I think) and bring a nice, good, long book - LMBO! (or my laptop, and design - hmmmm, now there's an idea!)

Anyway, here's 2nd Lt Harty, and 2nd Lt Harty - LMBO!

While we were on Post, we saw, in the paper, an ad for mattresses CHEAPER than Big LOTS. We decided to go and check it out. First, though, we had to go home and get the kids from school. The guys from the battallion office gave us the idea of trying to sell the old mattresses on Craigslist, so we decided to give it a shot. Who knew it would be such a great idea :) I've already got about 5 emails about it. Crazy, eh? We offered all 5 mattresses for $100. We'll see if any of them pan out. That would help with the replacement cost, at least a little bit.

After getting the kids from school, we went back on post to pick up my truck, let Captain America sign some paperwork, then back to the house, pick up the trailer, and back across town to the mattress store. The were out of the King bed that we wanted, but had one for $399 (instead of $299) that we bought. We also got a futon mattress to go on the bottom of the kids' bunk beds, and a twin mattress set (they only had one, not 3 like we needed). We paid for the stuff, loaded it up what they had in the trailer, then headed out for the warehouse (across town) where the king bed was. It was getting dark by this time, but we managed to find the place.

The guy coudln't find the bed that we bought, so he ended up giving us the next one up - SWEET! It was a $600 mattress, I think. It had the built in pillow top part. How cool is that :) We tied it on top of all the other mattresses and down the road we went. We still have 2 more twin bed sets to buy (and a top mattress for the bunk bed), but at least I have my new bed - LOL! It's SO nice - I'll let you now tomorrow how good of a nights sleep I got - hehehehe.

Captain America gets to go play army man tomorrow. His group is dressing up like the "bad guys" for the AIT (Advanced Individualized Training - ha! I do speak some Army) Students to practice on. They're re-creating the streets of a Middle Eastern town, to give the students a feel for where they're headed. This should be right up Captain Americas alley. He gets to dress up and shoot people with paintball like guns. Every little boys dream - LMBO!

So, in honor of the "Big" day on Saturday (hehehe), and our "Love is in the Air" sale over at Scraporchard (30% off), I have 5 days of "Love" for you. 5 days, 5 different WordArts, all the same saying. Sounds fun, eh? Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.


FONTS:
LOVE - Pharmacy
all rest - Renaissance

Lives Sublime

Welp, Captain America's on the Couch! LMBO!!! No really, he's sleeping on the couch. Not because I kicked him out of the bedroom or anything, but because we've decided that the mattresses are beyond fixing, and need replacing. So, he's on the couch, away from the mold tainted mattress. Apparently Big Lots is having a sale on mattresses starting on Wednesday. Buy a mattress, get a box frame for $10. So, because it doesn't affect me as bad, I'm still on the bed, and he's on the couch. Sigh.

It's like sometimes, I just wait for the next "disaster" to happen. First the couches. Now the beds. We're washing ALL the fabric stuff that was in the garage in Ohio. I've already done about 15 loads of laundry, and I've just scrapped the surface. It's almost as bad as getting rid of lice. Almost. OK, so it's not as bad as lice. Have you ever had to deal with that? Now that's NO fun at all.

When we first moved to Chicago, back in August of 2004, we stayed at Boy Scout camp for 3 weeks until we closed on our house. Little did we know, but the couch that was in the cabin had lice. We realized we had it a few days later. We shaved the boys' heads, but Eme and I were a little harder to fix. We both got a "shorter than usual" hair cut, and several treatments of lice shampoo. But it was the washing of ALL the laundry, serveral times that was the hard part. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. It makes me itch all over just thinking about it.

Church was good today. We heard talks about missionary work, and heard from a young man getting ready to go on him mission. In our church, young men, age 19, are expected to serve a 2 year mission. They and their families finance the mission, and they don't get to pick where they go. So, it's always exciting to get the letter in the mail, telling where they will serve their mission. Anyway, it was the first time that I'd heard the words "Freakin' awesome, radical, and rad" from the pulpit - LMBO! He's just young, and seems to be a GREAT kid. He'll mature in the mission field. :) (Don't I sound old - LOL)

We got a little more organized today. I didn't want to do too much, since it IS the Sabbath. Mostly just laundry. And I swept the floor and picked up the living room/kitchen. Captain America organized the garage for a while. Moved some of the heavy stuff around so that there was at least a walkway through all the boxes. But downstairs looks a lot better. Just trust me on this one - LOL!

Oh yeah, I wanted to show you my new comforter set. My last one molded. Nice, eh? But, I do LOVE this one so much more than the old one. Besides being EXTREMELY expensive, this mold thing is getting me lost of new stuff - LOL! And, guess where I bought my "bed in a bag"??? Where else? Walmart! It came with fitted and flat sheet, 2 pillowcase, 2 shams, bed skirt, comfortor, and 4 decorative pillows. All for $99. Not bad, eh? AND, it matches my purse. The one I got from "Time Out For Women 2008". Any of you have one???


OK, one more thing (Ha! I sound like the Grandpa on those Jackie Chan cartoons), while I have you here. I just wanted to show you Jake, Tom, and Eme's Valentines for this year. Aren't they fun?

Tom wants me to go back and edit his a little bit. I had the batman mask on him a first, and he made me put his whole face on there. But it looks silly, and he's just now realizing it. So, I'll be fiddling with it a little bit more tomorrow.

Now Jacob's turned out AWESOME. I'm a HUGE fan of the batman movies, and this newest onew was my favorite. I know, I know, it was a bit violent, but, um, ..... I still liked it :) Jacob was pleased with how his Valentines Cards turned out (I'm putting 3 on a 4x6, developing them at Wal-mart, and cutting them apart).

And Emelines. I think I'd lost my "mojo" by the time I got to her. Maybe when I'm fixing Tom's I'll go back and fiddle with her's too. We'll see. I still have to do Joe and Jim's too. I'd better hurry. They're Valentine's parties are on Friday :)

It's time for another WordArt Collab!!! Woohoo!!! Holley of Scrap By Color has a new Kit out, called "Family Tree" kit. Isn't it FANTASTIC???!!! I thought that some nice family history-ish quotes would be PERFECT for it :)

So here's the first one that I made. Well, 2 actually. Aren't they cool??? I thought they turned out pretty cool :) Click HERE to go to Holley's blog to pick up these 2 cool WordArts :) And don't forget to leave her some love. She did a GREAT job with her kit.

FONTS:
Face, Of - Porcelain
History - Perpetua Titling MT

And here's the other one. Click HERE to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave me some love if you like my work :) Thanks, you guys!!! Oh yeah, if you DONT want the version with the shadow, click HERE to get it :)

FONTS:
Lives - York Script ES
Sublime - Will&Grace

Valentine's WEEK Sale

Yep, that's right! Now through Saturday, you can pick up FABULOUS Digiscrap stuff at the Orchard ON SALE! Don't you just LOVE a sale :)

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard, and click HERE to go to my store (hehehe).

Be Still

Hi all :) Happy Sunday!!! So, I DID get a bit of unpacking done yesterday, but still, not as much as I was hoping. This is gonna take longer than I hoped - sigh. AND, we realized that more than just the couches were molded. We're afraid that it's the bed, too. I went to Wal-Mart and bought some Lysol that's good for killing mold, and I sprayed the heck out of the bed with it. We'll see. Poor Captain America. We've gotta get the mold out of the house :(

We went to a picnic yesterday on Post with all of the guys in Captain America's unit that are also Snowbirding here at Bliss. (Snowbirding is what they call it when you're waiting for your next training to start, and they just send you somewhere to wait - LOL!) It was pretty fun. Granted, we were the oldest/most established family there. Well, really the only family there. Most of those guys/girls were single. I think there was one other married guy, but with no kids. A little hard to relate to, but nice people :) Boy, does that make me sound old or what - LMBO!

Captain America and I also got to go to the movies again last night. We saw "Push". It was pretty good. I was SUPER tired from the busy day, and we waited until the 9:35 show so the little kids would all be in bed. If I had been less tired, I probably would have enjoyed it more. Still, it as good. Not as good as "Taken", but good :) hehehehe. I did see a preview for a new Nicolas Cage movie, and it looked AWESOME. Just my kind of movie - LOL!

I told my mom that I would put pictures on here today, but I keep forgetting to take pictures, and you know, if you don't take any pictures, it's hard to put them on your blog. Maybe before church, I'll get a pic of the kids. Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Now, all I have to do is remember. Hehehehe.

This WordArt request is from Jacki. She's in charge of favors for her Stake (LDS Church)'s Womens Conference, and this is the theme. She wanted to know if I'd do a WordArt for it, and here it is :) Mostly because I LOVED the theme, and thought that maybe you all would too! So, click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)

FONTS:
Still, I, Am - Al Sandra
Be, God - Felix Titling